The Demons of Embers and Ice
by Tasia'sENDLESSDreams
Summary: The night Elsa begs a young stranger not to die in her arms on the North Mountain, she has no idea they both have been marked as a demon's prey. An Evil Queen needs two sacrifices in order to repeat a deadly ritual, a heart of pure love and the soul of a dragon. The price of magic binds the Snow Queen and the Chief of Berk together, and may ultimately, tear them apart.
1. Prologue: Cold Sweat

**Prologue: Cold Sweat**

* * *

 _Spine, shivers_

 _Eyes, met_

 _Head, in it_

 _Heart, set_

 _Cold, on my mind, yeah_

 _Ice dripping, cold sweat_

 _-Tinashe, "Cold Sweat"_

* * *

 _ **"Elsa...Elsa...Ellllsssaaa..."**_

 _All the world was dark, but that haunting voice still beckoned her by name._

 _"Come to me, my Elsa...Come to me, and be mine..."_

 _The poor girl wanted to verbally refuse, yet the feeling of suffocation in her throat and her body frozen in fear prevented her from reacting. She couldn't see anything, not even her own trembling hands in front of her._

 _All she could do was feel the surrounding darkness shift and lap against her skin, as if it were sampling her._

 _"Come to me, Elllsssaaa...Come to me, and ..._ _ **Kill her**_ _..."_

 _Those last two words were whispered in a tantalizing tone, the echoes buzzing near her like wasps she didn't have the ability to swat away._

 _ **No.**_

 _ **Please.**_

 _ **I don't want to hurt anyone.**_

 _All of these were words she would have shrieked out if she could, but the terror in her veins held her within its python grasp._

 _"Elllssaaaa...Elllsssaaa...Elllsssaaa..."_

 _The voice continued to coo her name over and over again. It wouldn't stop, overlapping until one million voices could be heard all around, calling for her simultaneously. Some called with a slow warmth in the timbre of lullabies. Some with a furious malice the pitch of grating nails. Some with amused hunger in a tone so low and unintelligible, she was certain she would find a growling predator behind her if she only had the strength to turn._

 _What desired her so badly? Who was the "her" it was demanding her to harm?_

 _"Elllssaaaa, come to me and kill her. Kill her, Elsa. Kill her."_

 _No. No. No. No._

 _The sob building up in her chest threatened to explode from within her if it wasn't granted release. She never wanted to hurt anyone. She had already ruined the lives of her parents. She had almost killed her only, baby sister. Oh no, oh please no! The voice couldn't be talking about Anna. Not her beautiful, sweet Anna. Oh please, please no..._

 _"Kill her, Elsa. Kill her._ _ **Kill her! Kill her!**_ _"_

 _The voices were no longer sweet. One million commands hissed in unison now. Like a flames bursting forth from a newly lit forge, the frozen child could feel a sensation erupting through the darkness._

 _Pain. Anguish. Greed. Malice. Evil. So much Evil._

 _She was certain her heart should be thundering within her chest now from all of the overwhelming fear. Where-where was it? She couldn't feel her heart beat! She couldn't hear it! She couldn't hear or feel anything but the presence of evil building around her in its swarm._

 _ **"Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"**_

 _The girl's eyes darted around, still finding nothing around her. With overwhelming agony she assumed that this must be hell. That she was finally sent to the land of fire and brimstone for being born into the world as a menacing curse. As the voices continued, a strange itching began to build over her entire body. It was itching to move, even more than before-itching to act-to answer the calls-_

 _ **"Kill her!**_

 _NO, SHE WOULDN'T!_

 _ **"KILL HER!"**_

 _SHE COULDN'T._

 _ **"KILL HER! ELSA, KILL HER!"**_

 _OH, PLEASE. OH, PLEASE._

 _For the first time, the girl finally saw something flashing in the shifting darkness around her. At first she thought she had finally given into madness, but the flashing continued. It was a white light coming ever closer, ever brighter._

 _With eyes unable to close and her mouth sewn shut by some invisible force, she stared with horror as the lights were suddenly in front of her. Two of them, peering out like vacant eyes. At she met them directly, amidst the voices of the damned, it was then that Elsa truly knew hell._

 _"Come to me, E-"_

 **"Elllllllsssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"-**

* * *

-"Nooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahhhhhh!"-

Young Elsa of Arendelle wailed in the dead of night as she awoke violently from her nightmare.

She couldn't stop screaming and flailing, since the need to cleanse her skin and purify her lungs from horror had been building up for what felt like a millennium in that heinous dream state.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, she realized amidst her sobbing that her entire room was now, from floor to ceiling, encased in ice.

 ***BANG***

 ***BANG***

 ***BANG***

She almost jumped through the frozen canopy of her four-poster bed when she heard someone pounding and calling to her with distress from the other side of her bedroom.

 _ **"ELLLSSSAAA! ELSA, PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR! PLEASE ELSA, PLEASE! SOMETHING FElt WRONG AND I HEARD YOU SCREAMING! PLEASE JUST LET ME IN AND LET ME KNOW YOU'RE OKAY!"**_

"Anna..." Elsa was barely able to whimper out as she recognized the sound of her 12-year-old sister pleading with her like usual to open up.

' _Kill her!'_

The deadly whispers from the dream came rushing back to her in addition to the flagrant state of her powers.

"Go away Anna!" Elsa shrieked, her voice breaking between her ragged breaths as she tried to ward her sister away from the danger. "Just go away! Leave me alone! I don't want you here!"

 _'I don't want to hurt you,'_ she wept within her mind, fearing that what the voices had commanded her to do in the darkness might actually come true.

" _ **ELSA, PLEASE! I PROMISE I'LL NEVER BOTHER YOU AGAIN! NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS! BUT PLEASE, JUST ONCE, OPEN UP!"**_

All the 16-year-old princess could do was curl within herself and continue crying from heartbreak at her sister's request as the sound of more voices and hurried footsteps began building in the outside hall.

 **"Anna! What is going on here!"**

There was the frantic voice of her father, King Agnarr…

 **"Oh Papa! It's Elsa! I heard her screaming and I can't budge the door! Please Papa! Make her open it!"**

 **"Agnar...the door-it's-"**

There was the quiet yet worried tone of her mother, Queen Iduna...

 **"I know Iduna. Anna! Go to your room! We'll handle this."**

 **"Wait-What! No! There's no way I'm-"**

 **"Anna! Listen to your father! Go now!"**

 **"But Mama!"**

The voices of the few servants remaining congregated behind the door as Elsa wallowed in loathing from the spectacle, still unable to keep herself from crying.

 **"Gerda, please escort Princess Anna back to her room and make sure she stays there until she falls asleep."**

Elsa was secretly grateful to her parents. She knew they couldn't risk Anna seeing her room and realizing that the door wouldn't budge because it was frozen shut. Amidst Anna's protests, Elsa heard her father murmur to one of the guards something about beating the door in.

Why couldn't she have just kept quiet? Why was she such an abomination? Why did she always have to cause all of this trouble, even now at the age of sixteen?

She had made one singular, solemn wish for her birthday last night. For things to be different. What had she actually been hoping for?

 ***BANG***

 ***BANG***

 ***CRASH***

She flinched as the door was broken down by a few guards who the King had quickly dismissed after, not giving them a chance to inspect the premise. The only person she could see just outside the door was Kai, the head palace steward, one of the only two servants in the entire castle to be informed on Elsa's abilities. Gerda, the head housekeeper and previous governess to the princesses, was the second. Both had raised Elsa and Anna in their parent's frequent absence, and also assisted in concealing Elsa's deadly secret from the rest of the staff.

"Elsa! What the devil happened in here!" her father demanded, looking about the room frantically as if he expected an assassin to be fleeing the scene.

Her mother fled to her side as she blubbered on. The minute her mother paid no mind to necessary precaution and went to fling her arms around her daughter, Elsa squeaked and scurried back from the human contact.

"Noooo!" she protested, curling more against the headboard of her bed. "I don't want to hurt anyone! Please don't make me hurt anyone!"

"Elsa, please," Her mother said with her quiet voice, pain brimming in her eyes from seeing her child so helpless. "You have to tell us what happened!"

The teenage girl couldn't pry her hands away from her face as she attempted to confess.

"Mama-Papa...I-I had a horrible nightmare and-"

"A nightmare?! That's what this is about!"

Her father's sudden bellowing sent her into another fit of hysterics.

"We practically wake the entire kingdom, gather the guards to beat down the door and almost endanger your sister-all in the name of a bad dream! Elsa, you must get a hold of yourself this instant! You aren't a child!"

"Agnarr!" Her mother shot up, raising her voice, which only happened on truly rare occasions when she was passionate about something. "Is that all you can think of! Elsa hasn't had an incident of this magnitude in years! Aren't you the least bit concerned in comforting our daughter!"

"Your majesties," Kai said in a hushed, but intense tone from the hallway. "I implore you to forgive me, but if we all do not lower our voices, your other daughter is certain to hear us and the entirety of our worries will be for not."

Elsa knew that Kai was the only individual in the palace that could get away with reprimanding the royals, even as carefully as he did it.

The king let out a heavy, repressed sigh and sunk into a frost covered chair in a position that aged him increasingly.

"Elsa dear, there is nothing more important to me than your safety. Please know that everything I do, is to ensure that."

Elsa couldn't look at him. He pressed a hand to his temple as he continued, his voice slipping with an indication of built up stress that Elsa hadn't seen from him since the accident eight years ago.

"But I am also faced with many, many difficult tasks to upkeep so that you may enjoy that safety," he said. "You're a smart young woman, as we've educated you to be. I know you are already aware of the strain hiding your abilities from the majority of the council puts on your mother and I." He let out a heaved breath and looked to her, trying to project some kind of regained paternal composure. "Why do I tell you to conceal your emotions?"

This question was rhetorical of course. Elsa already knew the answer; it was part of the mantra her father had made her repeat every day since she was eight years old.

"To protect others from myself, and myself from others," she recited, a hollow yet dutiful tone in her voice.

"Good girl," her father said with a sad, almost forced smile. "As King, I follow this exact principle, with no powers to speak of myself. As a ruler, Elsa, your personal feelings are a potential weapon for disaster if you ever let them slip through at the wrong time. Those that seek to manipulate you can't be granted the opportunity to critique the rationale of your decisions. Everything I do to protect this kingdom-our family-from that sort of outcome, I do with this knowledge. One wrong move...and everyone knows. Do you...understand?"

Elsa could only stare at him with silent tears streaming down her face. A heavy weight of increased depression and guilt had finally managed to mute her sobs, though the fear she wished to express to them didn't subside.

King Agnarr looked to his eldest child with eyes that begged her to forgive him, to find some kind of mutual understanding with her because of her natural maturity.

"Elsa, dear, please...I need you to tell me you understand," he asked again, his voice graver. "Because tonight, we were closer to one of those dangerous outcomes than we've ever been before. You know your duty, you're almost of age. If you are to _ever_ become a queen, any display like this _has_ to come to an end. No matter what the cause."

The silence that hung for a few moments between them all was deadly.

An empty breeze seemed to flow eerily through the air as Elsa focused her attention somberly on a large mirror in front of her, the one on the wall opposite of her bed. She still couldn't look at her parents, so she tried finding her reflection in the spots of the mirror that weren't covered with frost, anything to pay attention to and avoid their gaze.

As she did this, what she found made her spine go rigid and her knuckles turn white as the gripped they blankets in her hands from fear.

"Please Agnarr," Iduna implored once more, going dutifully over to her husband's side while trying to talk sense into him. "Elsa knows all of this! Tonight-it's not the time for one of your lessons. Tonight, what's most important is-"

"No mother," Elsa suddenly whispered, softly cutting her mother off. "It's okay, father is right. I need to take my duty to our family more seriously, and continue to work on concealing my emotions to avoid future displays."

Iduna looked at her with surprise, still not entirely convinced.

Elsa realized her mother was trying to follow her gaze to the mirror, since the intense focus she had on it was highly noticeable. The princess did this for two reasons. She knew that if she met either of her parent's eyes, the wall of resolve she was trying to rebuild would promptly disintegrate.

She also knew from her mother's reactions, that the Queen wasn't able to see the shadow being reflected in the mirror's frost covered glass. Elsa kept her eye on it steadily, fearing where it would go or what it would do if she let it out of her sight.

"I'm proud of you, dear," King Agnarr said, a soft smile turning up on her father's face as he took her stoic ruse for an immediate show of inner strength. "She'll be just fine, Iduna. Elsa understands, we couldn't ask for a more trustworthy heir to the throne. Just as I've said all of these years, she will master control. Right, Elsa?"

"Yes father," Elsa replied in the same empty whisper that was lost on her father, as he just seemed to be relieved she had found a way to collect herself and calm down. "I'm sorry to disturb your evening. Thank you for helping me to come to my senses...I'll be...fine for the rest of the night…"

Elsa tried her hardest to escape the shiver in her voice as she watched the shadow in the looking glass shift, like it was moving closer. It was just a wavering black mass in the farthest corner of the mirror. The ice glaze that covered some of the glass from her waking concealed most of it, but Elsa knew it was there. It evoked the same feeling in her the darkness within her nightmare did.

It was an aura of beckoning evil.

King Agnarr nodded with assurance toward his daughter.

"That's my good girl. We'll have Gerda prepare a room in the east wing for you for tonight until the door repairs are made first thing in the morning. We'll make sure Kai has this area curtained and watched until then, so no-one will see. Don't worry, we'll take care of this."

"Thank you father," Elsa said, nodding softly. Her body did not move from its upright position in her bed, her eyes didn't move from the mirror.

The shadow was getting bigger, and she swore she could see two white lights flashing ever so faintly on its form. The princess prayed that she was simply suffering from a hallucination.

Her father turned, advising Elsa he'd send Gerda to fetch her when the room was ready for her. Her mother did not move as swiftly after her husband as she typically would. She stood in the doorway with a conflicted look, eyes searching her daughter's face with soul reading intent that only a maternal gaze could.

"Elsa," Iduna said quietly, "Are you certain...there isn't something more you need to tell us…"

That was it. It was her last chance. A voice inside Elsa screamed from within to _tell her_.

 _JUST TELL HER! DON'T CONCEAL! TELL YOUR MOTHER! TELL HER, PLEASE TELL HER!_

That's what mothers were supposed to do for their daughters. She had to be strong for her father, but her mother would understand. She had to.

"I-I…" Elsa struggled as words tried to form out of her lips, the sound a mere croak after how long she had spent crying.

' _ **KILL HER! KILL HER! KILL HER!'**_

The voice from the dream, dear god, the way it echoed in her memory now was unbearable. All of the voices thrummed against her mind as if they were here in her waking reality. Thinking of them gave her that itch, that desire- **No! No! No!**

There was no way she could tell them. A childish accident with her powers while playing with her young sister had resulted in perpetual isolation. If she told them now what she was hearing in her dreams, in her head, they'd think she was mad. They'd treat her like a murderer, a monster, a demon…

Elsa prayed for madness, as the alternative seemed far worse.

"I'm certain, mother," Elsa replied calmly, only moving to bundle her glove covered hands deeper within the blankets to avoid showing the additional frost that was spreading from her renewed fear. "Thank you, I'll be fine."

Out of the corner of her eye, Elsa saw her mother move to discreetly wipe something from her cheek as she then sighed heavily. It was clear she didn't believe her daughter at all, but there wasn't anything she could do and the 16-year old girl begged that the hint would be taken. This was something she would have to deal with on her own to avoid endangering everyone further. This was also for the good of her own self preservation.

"Good night then... Elsa," Iduna said with so much sorrow in her voice, that Elsa couldn't stop the brimming of tears in her eyes as the queen turned to walk through the open doorway, leaving her alone.

Even behind the blurry vision of the fresh tears in her eyes, Elsa saw the dark shadow in the mirror was now right behind her reflection. The white eyes on its form flashed, hell now finding a way to her on earth.

She knew Kai was keeping watch somewhere in the hall, so she curled into a ball in her blankets, as if the position would keep all the anxious terror inside her properly contained. Dainty, crystalline snowflakes started to appear in the room and a pillow muted her quiet sobs this time.

No matter what was wrong with her, insane or haunted, the young girl was now certain of one thing. The hope that she had about finally joining her family outside of the walls of her room were promptly dissolved. She was more of danger to her sister and everyone now than ever, and she should NEVER come out again.

Covered in a cold sweat, the princess of Arendelle shivered through night.

All the world slept peacefully, and that voice still beckoned her by name.

" _ **Elllsssaaa...Elllssaaa..."**_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S LOG:**

 **June 5th, 2016**

After almost an entire year at sea, taken captive by emotion pirates aboard the ship, _Hiccelsa_ , I am finally permitted to come above deck. The word ship is an understatement, as it is more of a marauding fleet, tearing through the Big Four seas to prove their supremacy. I'm not sure how it came to this. I was first captured by a captain with the name of DannyPhantomSG1 on the currents of Youtube during an unsuspecting entertainment cruise. I wandered upon their creation, "one last time [hiccup/elsa]" and I was unable to escape the ties of madness that chained me to the ship _Hiccelsa_ from then on. The treasures that further caught my obsession once I was in the brig of the ship are as followed:

"How to Thaw a Frozen Heart," Captain: Wixeron

"Like Growing Frost," Captain: Lysistrate (Whom I found a personal mentor in as I survived my first perilous months under the influence of the crew.)

"The Man From Berk," Captain: KE12

"A Chance Encounter," Captain: R-dude

"The Ice Comes Calling," Captain: William563

"The Dragon Master and the Snow Queen," Captain: cgsmithmo

Not only have I been permitted in the open air, but now I also find myself captain of a newly built vessel in their fleet. My torture has come to an end. It is now time for me to write and explore these unknown waters with a new crew, or perish a lonely fangirl death. Who will join me? I shall keep a record of my journey, for I know not where it might take me. Several siren songs seem to already lured me on this path, "Cold Sweat" by the Tinashe is the first. More to come, so those that may stumble upon these records, please send me a message in a bottle with your reviews and thoughts on the current status of things. They will be reciprocated with message in kind.

Disclaimer: A force of phantom power compels me to state that I do not own any of the references to Frozen (Captain:Hans Christian Anderson, Disney) or How to Train Your Dragon (Captain:Cressida Cowell, Dreamworks). All character cameos that make it aboard this vessel belong their respected creators, just as my original characters will be under my command.

Till next we make port,

Tasia'sEndlessDreams

P.S.-Please forgive the lack of line break between the dream and Elsa waking. Lord knows I've tried, but for some reason that is the one spot in the story the doc editor would NOT let me put one. It kept deleting them every time I put one and saved it. Also, forgive my highly exaggerated tone in these author notes. I thought it would help liven up the typical announcement at the end of each chapter. I'm also kind of a drama queen.


	2. Cirrus

**_Chapter One: Cirrus_**

* * *

 **"Where are you my sweet, little sacrifice?"**

The malevolent queen peered into the ancient, framed floor length mirror in front of her. Her view was illuminated by a single torch that glowed in the dark chamber of the abandoned castle currently serving as her fortress. The vision in front of her was not her own shadowed reflection, but a glimpse at a foreign set of mountains and the blinding snow storm currently flaring around them.

"Tch. The snow wench still can't control herself, and of all the days," The queen stated, narrowing her glowing white eyes in disgust as she knew exactly who was the cause of the storm in the vision. "What a wretched waste of power."

 ** _"Some would agree otherwise."_**

The demonic voice in the back of her mind responded with quiet amusement, and the queen's temper flared, causing the shadows around her form to flex and waver like flames.

"I'll deal with her eventually, but I have my priorities," she hissed, and continued to look for the figures in the vision that were of great importance to her. "Where are you...Ah! While I'm displeased with the location, it should be a simple enough retrieval."

A content smirk up turned on her beautiful pink lips, and as they parted, a sharp set of white, predatory teeth peeked through. The vision now showed a dark figure soaring against the fierce hail and winds. A silhouette of wings beat relentlessly, never stopping the quest despite the danger.

"And thanks to our new guest," the queen cooed. " ** _This_** will lead my shadows right to my prize."

She admired the singular rectangular object in her hand in the waning torchlight. The obsidian ridges glittered like satin, shining as she turned it this way and that.

How odd that a single dragon scale would finally bring her the salvation she'd been waiting for.

* * *

The snow storm atop the North Mountain roared outside with the fury of a tortured spirit. The only living being capable of looking out to the blizzard without fear was Elsa, the Snow Queen of Arendelle. Currently pacing in her ice palace, she was far too haunted by worries for her own kingdom to give the wail of the winds any attention.

She had first built this palace to clear her mind so she could solidify her decision to renounce her kingdom and let her powers flourish freely. It was a great irony that she still fled here as a place of solace to reflect on what troubled her most concerning that very kingdom. It was a comfort for her to be secluded in order to productively focus on coming up with practical solutions. She could then avoid worrying about her feeling fueled powers turning her loved ones into ice sculptures.

She traversed the frosted foyer as a caged animal, the naturally stormy climate of the North Mountain mixing with her magical influence and aggravating the conditions outside. She was lucky enough that she could contain her damage to the mountain peaks these days, and she always sent scouts ahead to warn travelers or villagers in the area before she would retreat here. All precautions had to be taken, because heaven help anyone who was caught in this weather unwillingly.

Her stress was warranted of course, because the current threat in the land was not just one to Arendelle. Lately, surrounding kingdoms were finding their native magical beings targeted. With her country's status as a popular international port, rumors of the creatures and their disturbances from kingdoms in every sea had been flooding in. It was also at a rate the queen did not have the luxury to ignore.

The vanishing of will-o-wisps in Dunbroch. Mermaids harvested in the Southern Isles. Vampires in the lands beyond the Eastern forests retreating to even darker domains, as if in fear of being hunted by some stronger supernatural predator. Sailors had even reported seeing flocks of reptilians beasts migrating to the far Western regions, when creatures such as dragons had been supposedly extinct for many centuries. The thing connecting the incidents had been rumored sightings of demonic creatures, blacker than shadows, appearing at every location.

They were the source of the initial attack before the disappearance of the creatures, or they were found near the remains if things had taken a turn for the worst. A recent message of warning from the royal family of Corona concerning such incidents is what had finally driven Elsa to a realization. Whatever or whoever was behind this, they would certainly come for Arendelle's notorious Snow Queen as well. It was only a matter of time, as they had already attempted an attack the rocks trolls a mere 24 hours ago.

To say Grand Pabi and the trolls were the closest thing to extended family Elsa had would be an ironic understatement at this point. Especially considering that after a year and a half of courting, a proposal from Kristoff was soon at hand for Anna. As queen, Elsa had already decreed the land of the rock trolls a sacred territory and had posted guards within its borders in order to keep them safe from outsiders that wished to do them harm. When reports of the creature attacks had first begun, she had them moved to a temporary sanctuary within the palace grounds to make sure they were safe until the threat died down. If it had not been for her proximity to them last night, they would have been among the number of victims.

Elsa shivered at the description of the creatures her guards had given her after the incident, since her magic had supposedly intimidated them off before she had time to really assess what she was fighting.

"Shadow demons" the veteran soldiers had called them, as they reported to their queen bloody, bruised and scared out of their collective minds. The creatures seemed to shift appearance, looking humanoid at one moment and then reptilian the next. They were made of black, morphing, oozing shadows that burned like fire _and_ ice when one came in contact with them. They had the ghost like ability to move objects near them without touching them. At night, they had appeared from the sky into the garden sanctuary to carry the trolls off within shadowy tendrils forming from their body.

If Elsa had arrived on the scene one second later...she really couldn't stand to think of the outcome.

Her decision to take a retreat to the palace alone was one that her sister, Anna, had vehemently disapproved of under the current circumstances. Elsa had her reasons, for she was concerned of what might happen to the citizens of Arendelle if she was _in_ the city limits instead of away from them. She could certainly defend herself with her abilities at this point, but the same could not be said for her subjects. If she was also a target, with the creatures now having evidence of being in their borders, she could at least keep everyone safe.

Besides, she had Marshmallow (as Olaf had so endearingly named the snow beast she originally created to ward off Anna and Kristoff during the Eternal Winter) as her personal bodyguard. He stood watch at the ice palace at all times while he also watched the younger beings she had created with her powers unintentionally over the years. The fortress was their regular home, and Elsa felt a maternal sense for their well being, wishing to be close to them until she figured out the best method of defense.

She had convinced Anna she would be safe, and they had set up a special signal that would alert forces camped safely nearby to come to her aid should anything actually happen. She also reminded Anna, someone had to watch over the people, the trolls and especially Olaf. Who else could she entrust to do that?

The worst thing about the whole encounter with the creatures wasn't just their presence, but the feeling she had gotten being near them for even a short amount of time. It was this feeling of pure, beckoning evil...one she could recall echoing within adolescent nightmares that had almost faded her memory five years ago-

 **"** **Roooooaarrrrrrrrrr!"**

Before Elsa could take another anxious step among her racing thoughts, she was distracted by the distressed roar of Marshmallow echoing through the icy halls on the other side of the palace.

She barely had time to turn her head towards the direction of his frantic footsteps before she felt the castle begin to shake.

 **"** Marshmallow? What's wro-"

 ** _*SCRRRRRRRREEEEEEEECCCCCCHHHHHH*_**

 ** _*CRASH*_**

After what sounded like the ascension and detonation of firecrackers, Elsa was thrown clear across the foyer by the large snowman. It took a few moments for her disoriented vision to clear. All she could intake was the sound of an explosion as the roof of her supposedly solid fortress blasted inward.

Through rising steam that began to build in the chamber like a layer of cirrus clouds, Elsa saw that a brand new skylight had been placed in her castle delicately designed snowflake dome and its chandelier now resembled a shattered window. She had been standing in that space 30 seconds prior, and without Marshmallow, she would have been buried under the collapsing rubble.

How had he sensed it? More importantly, what had caused it?

Elsa tried to pry her head upward, ignoring the forming bruises on her body as the result of Marshmallow's desperate throw. Her eyes widened when she then witnessed a black creature crash through the open space with the force of a meteor. She coughed and tried to shield her face from more debris as the icy foundation was chipped and cracked from the impact.

Her first panicked thought was that it was one of the shadow monsters finally seeking to target her. It shot violet bolts of lightning from its mouth and roared with a sound synonymous to a beast of death. However, when several smaller creatures with the consistency of shifting dark masses poured through the ceiling hole, she thought to assess otherwise.

"The shadow demons," Elsa whispered to herself, calling them the term her soldiers had used and shivering at the disturbing aura they radiated.

Her heart beat frantically as her eyes then scanned the black beast shooting its energy, astounded to find that it was a dragon, at least by the standards of basic artistry in fairy tale books.

The monster was covered in shiny black scales, though it had more of a feline silhouette than one of a snake or a gruesome lizard. Its eyes glowed and it unfurled bat likes wings from its body in an attempt to appear larger to the demons attacking it from all sides. It seemed injured, roaring with pain each time it moved to defend itself, and she saw that fragments of ice stabbed into the outside of the fold of its wings. The left wing, which it used to block an attack, was torn and bending at a sickening angle.

She assumed the dragon had first been taken down by the shadow demons, but she had no idea what it was doing existing in this region at all.

Staggering upward as quickly as she could, Elsa gained her footing and began trying to assist Marshmallow.

She had learned from the attack on the rock trolls, that if she shot the demons directly with a blast of her magic, it seemed to affect them more than trying to attack them with a solid weapon. However, she hadn't gotten the chance to fight them for very long before they mysteriously fled the other night, so she was unsure of how to finish them off.

"GO AWAY!" Marshmallow cried in his gruff voice, trying in vain to swat the demons out of his path.

He either couldn't get a grip on them, or his icy arms would just pass between their shady limbs, leaving steam coming from his own as if he were burned by coming in contact with them.

As Elsa tried to think of a strategy while she distracted the creatures away from Marshmallow, she knew the injured dragon was not helping the situation. It shot those purple lightning bolts from its mouth with a panicked fury that would miss the demons on many attempts because of how supernaturally fast they twitched and moved. There were too many of them, and even the shots that hit them still blasted the foundation of the palace in consequence. Elsa knew her ice was strong, but even it couldn't withstand repetitive canon-like blows before it could eventually crumple the entire fortress.

The dragon had to be restrained, because she couldn't keep repairing the damage of its blows while keeping her snow bodyguard safe. Plus, the dragon's wing was sure to get progressively worse the more it flailed about.

"If I could just keep it in one place…" Elsa whispered heatedly, eyeing the reptile.

She braved through the hoard of demons and began creating ice restraints for the dragon around its limbs, torso and wings that bound it to the floor of the main level. It didn't like this in the slightest, and as it resisted it shot bolts of light at an even more rapid pace.

Elsa exhaled in panic as more ice was breaking around her and the dragon's black body began to glow with an energy that helped him succeed in shattering the rudimentary restraints. It turned to fire a defensive shot at the snow queen for daring to contain it.

"Wait!" Elsa cried to the dragon as if begging for mercy, trying to form an ice shield that could save her from the blast with no time to move.

Surprisingly, the dragon paused at her plea, glaring at her with intelligent eyes and a cocked head momentarily, as if deciding to spare her. Unfortunately, that one second with its guard down was all the shadow demons needed to begin swarming again and its attention was immediately distracted.

 _"It stopped and listened..."_ Elsa thought in shock, and as the shadow demons focused their attention towards the dragon, she took a moment to finally notice the strange contraptions that were attached to it.

Gear resembling a form of harness and saddle were strapped to the dragon's body in the same fashion one would saddle a horse. A bright red flag was attached to its tail, and though crudely drawn, there was clearly a symbol of ownership displayed the ripped and frayed material .

As wild as the dragon was acting under the heat of battle, someone had clearly been in the process of training it.

"This is just too crazy," Elsa murmured to herself, as she had the developed habit to speak out loud when her mind was racing. "How do you even train a dragon? And why-"

Elsa stopped talking herself as she flung magic at another shadow demon and realized there had only been a number of the creatures she actually had to engage with. Most kept swarming to the dragon with a disturbingly pack like precision.

Was the beast some form of designated target?

She realized only a small group of them would only bother their time with her and Marshmallow as they had tried to interfere. They fought like the elk-hounds her father used to keep when he would seasonally hunt for sport early in her shadow demons were single minded in their attempts, but not un-directed.

Who was pulling the strings? And why would they seek out a dragon when they had a being such as herself all alone at their leisure? It didn't make any sense!

The flurry of emotions made an icy wind pick up in the chamber and her hands built up a raw glow of magical energy that imitated the glowing dragon firing shots behind her.

She took advantage of this, firing the energy full force at the shadow demons that scurried on the outskirts of the dragon's proximity. She ended up hitting one in the center of its core, and she let out a cry of surprise as the creature's oozing form began to waver violently and then explode outward in a plume of mist until it disappeared.

"What? I-I did it?" Elsa exclaimed aloud, and finally noticed that the lightning shot from the now glowing dragon achieved the same effect when it managed to land a solid hit on one of its rapidly moving targets.

Whatever these things were made of, they just couldn't take it when they were hit with raw energy that was more powerful.

Elsa ran. She ran as fast as she could over to the dragon's side, feeling a rush of adrenaline and anxiousness at her new realization.

"Marshmallow," she called to the large snowman as he was still attempting futile swipes at the demons that were just simmering more of the cold snow off his limbs with their burning matter. "Go! Protect the small ones!"

 ** _"No!"_**

The snow man growled looking conflicted, staring between his snow queen and the chamber door that led to where the all of the smaller snow-lings claimed as their play area in the palace.

"Please," Elsa begged as she flung her magic toward another demon, desperately trying to get the her bodyguard out of the way so there would be one less being she had to worry about protecting. "It will help. I promise."

Marshmallow grunted and nodded, letting out one more defensive roar at the shadow demons before running off with his thundering gate down the corridor. Elsa sealed all of the possible exits off with ice to keep him out. It also helped to keep the dragon, the demons and herself nicely contained in one area. If something were to happen to the castle, Marshmallow would be the best chance all the snow-lings had at getting away safely. This was ensured by the instinct to protect Elsa had given him subconsciously when he'd been created in the first place.

She then immediately turned her attention to the dragon, that was still fighting for its life. It roared more ferociously, but it moved slower, its blue glow slightly dimmer. Its damaged wing had taken a toll on it. Elsa tried her best to destroy as many shadow demons as she could with her magic, but they moved too quickly and there was just too many.

"They're too fast," Elsa lamented aloud as she was back to back with the dragon that seemed to be willing to accept her assistance.

She let out a cry of surprise as a shadow demon backed her by the dragon's flank, and she accidentally tripped over a large chunk of ice that had been part of the restraints she attempted earlier. She fell as best as she could to brace for impact with the icy floor, but the sudden reminder of the restraints sparked an idea.

"I'll keep them in one place," Elsa mused in irony, and quickly shot ice under the dragon so that it slid swiftly across the floor and was thrown against the wall.

It roared haughtily at her, and she assumed it meant something along the lines of,

 _"Who's side are you on!"_

Elsa didn't miss a beat from her position on the floor however, because the dragon left a mass pile of shadow demons in the place it had been. The snow queen of Arendelle built a giant ice wall in the shape of a half moon around them so they were corralled neatly inside for a few precious seconds.

"Now!" Elsa shrieked as she flew all of the magical energy she could into the small opening she'd left in the wall before the shadow demons could escape.

She desperately hoped the dragon would be intelligent enough to mimic her attempts, and like another miracle, the dragon gave her an understanding glance and immediately fired a rapid round of blasts that glowed with white hot light.

 ***** ** _SCREECH*_**

 ** _*SCREECH*_**

 ** _*SCREECH*_**

The entire foyer chamber erupted in a plume of smoke and that inky black mist. The shadow demons let out a nightmarish sound as they erupted with the attacks being thrown at them. Elsa curled up on the ground, shielding herself with an ice dome as the tall walls she'd built around the demons splintered off into jagged shards from the explosive force.

It took a few seconds before the sounds stopped, and silence echoed as she tried to peek over her ice and above the mists to inspect if the attempt had been successful. She cringed at the amount of repairs she was going to have to make on this level of the palace in the aftermath of everything.

She heard an animal sound between a coo and a groan, and she turned to see the dragon panting heavily, trying to painfully move its injured wing. The shadow demons were gone for now, but it had left the two incredibly drained.

"That attack took a lot out of you, didn't it?" Elsa said softly to the beast, trying to approach it slowly to assess its current intentions.

The closer she came the more it staggered away, still acting defensive and giving her reproachful looks. She assumed it still hadn't forgotten how she had originally tried to bind it.

"Please, it's okay," Elsa begged the dragon, putting out a hand as some form of extended olive branch with the creature. However, it wasn't paying attention to her, and even though the shadow demons were gone, it kept frantically pacing and roaring as if it were looking for something.

Its panic seemed to increase the more it searched, giving out calls of distress as it began to try to flap its wings desperately to get some air, but the attempt was futile. It circled the chamber, blasting at the exits Elsa had previously sealed.

Elsa kept re-sealing the holes the dragon was creating. Releasing it now was an incredibly bad idea. She had this burning feeling that it would only further cripple the creature, and she didn't know whether it would continue to damage more parts of the castle in search of whatever it was looking for.

The dragon looked to the skylight desperately and began to claw up the walls, gripping anything it could to try and climb its way out of the chamber. Its nails kept slipping on the sleek ice walls and it tumbled to the floor over and over again, still never getting discouraged.

This broke Elsa's heart, and she readied her magic to try and trap it in a thick ice dome that might be able to withstand its blasts. She hated the idea of catching this intelligent creature like a child might a common insect, but it would just be until she could gather her senses and figure out what to do with it.

She readied to unleash her defense, when her eyes scanned the dragon one last time and were once again drawn to the gear strapped around its body, proof that someone had tried to domesticate it. However, the saddle was empty.

The dragon was looking desperately for something...and the saddle was empty.

The world seemed to slow down as Elsa processed this in the lull of the battle, now unable to ignore the deafening howls of the winds and blinding snow flurries of the **deadly** storm that was fully displayed overhead.

Her eyes widened in a realization of panic, taking in the desperate flailing and calling of the injured creature before her.

Where was the rider?!

* * *

 _ **Author's Log:**_

 _ **June 9th, 2016**_

 _Only a few days out to sea, and I already feel the lonely desolation of these waters. I'll have to dig a little deeper and explore a few more lands to recruit crew members. I bit eager I suppose, but I'll guess we'll see how the liveliness of the increases after making this latest port. I have managed to acquire two passengers aboard the vessel so far._

 _ **Kbzog61** and **27stix** , thank ou for the favorites and follows! Welcome aboard! Also, i have acquired my first message in a bottle from Kbzog61 as well. I will treasure it as an inspiration to keep going._

 _The siren that inspired this chapter is "Cirrus" by the artist Bonobo. It's more of an instrumental track, but it's what I've always imagined the fight scene to when I was spending hours agonizing over this first chapter. In fact, Bonobo's entire album, "The North Borders" inspired this story and his other songs will be making an appearance here or there from that album. All of the chapter titles have a desired essence of a "fire or ice" theme, or at least one of elemental reference to go with the story title._

 _Please give me your thoughts and well wishes, I suppose I'll just see how this chapter does as I continue. Another day on my ship Hiccelsa, who else will join me?_

 _Till next we make port,_

 _Tasia'sENDLESSDREAMS_


	3. What If This Storm Ends?

_***At last port:**_ _Dangerous shadow creatures have been terrorizing infamous mythical creatures in the lands surrounding Arrendelle. Our Snow Queen retreats to her ice palace to worry effectively about the situation while causing a deadly snow storm on the peaks of the North Mountain as a result. She is interrupted when a black dragon wearing a saddle crashes through the ceiling of her fortress, bringing with it an onslaught of shadow creatures. She combines forces with the dragon to defeat them, but after the battle, Elsa realizes there is no sign of the dragon's potential rider, bringing to her a wave of panic. Shall we find out what's to come?_

* * *

 ** _Chapter Two: What If This Storm Ends?_**

* * *

 _What if this storm ends?_

 _And I don't see you, As you are now_

 _Ever again_

 _The perfect halo, Of gold hair and lightning,_

 _Sets you off against, The planet's last dance_

 _Just for a minute,The silver forked sky,_

 _Lit you up like a star, That I will follow_

 _Now it's found us, Like I have found you_

 _I don't want to run, Just overwhelm me_

 _-Snow Patrol, The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)_

* * *

 _ **Black**_ _and_ _ **White**_ _._

 _That was all he could register as he fell, every sense peaked as he was torn away from the reigns and the saddle._

 _The_ _ **black**_ _of the creatures that clawed out for him faded against the night sky..._

 _The searing wounds they left against his skin, even while he'd been wearing his armor, still burned. And yet...it left him freezing down to the bone like a cold winter back home._

 _The_ _ **white**_ _of the frozen storm pelted against him as he struggled weakly, trying to reach for his best friend that now seemed miles away..._

 _The young man hoarsely wept the dragon's name as the wind tore the call immediately from his lips._

 _He knew his flying partner was being swarmed by the deadly shadows as his view of them all but disappeared, and nothing could be done as his own falling continued._

 _He struggled to activate his wings, pulling straps and switches on his body like a madman._

 _Where-where were the wrist holds? He just needed to grab them. Activate-the tail fin-if he could just-the wings-he wasn't soaring right! What was wrong with the wings?_

 _As he tried to extend them, he could see a slash line carried down the intricate leather working of his right wing, making it useless for ariel efficiency. Had the creatures damaged them? Had that been the work of his dragon desperately trying to claw for his body and stop them from being separated?_

 _Even with all their might and expertise, the unexpected blizzard had been hell to fly in, even without the shadows attacking._

 _Now all alone, the gusts carried him and his broken wings like a frail insect, left to the mercy of its currents as he could no longer steer in the air around him._

 _He couldn't give up._

 _He struggled and flailed, trying to find some control. Something to grab. Somewhere to land. He had to do something._

 _ **Inferno**_ _. If he could just activate the blade he could-why were his fingers already so numb and inconveniently clumsy! Even the thick furs wrapped around his armor lost their effectiveness the more they were covered with cold precipitation. He had to grab...the blade...he..._

 _In the distance, he thought he saw the briefest glimpse of light._

 _They'd seen one before...from what looked like a shelter carved into the mountain tops. They had set their sights on it...but it had been too late._

 _This light now was different however, it was an explosion..._

 _Like a lightning strike...like a shooting star..._

 _Despite his flailing and the overwhelming effects of the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he still couldn't sense what was sky and what was earth, it was all just_ _ **white**_ _._

 _A golden vision was a ghost across his thoughts. A beautiful face he had been searching for...but now feared he would never see again. He let her name caress his mind, driving his survival and yet calming him at the same time._

 _'_ _Astrid…'_

 _And then the_ _ **black**_ _came for him._

* * *

 **Where was the rider?!**

Panic tightened Elsa's chest as she watched the frantic dragon and assessed that whoever the rider was, they were somewhere outside in the dangerous force of nature HER powers had aggravated. They were also more than likely injured.

"I thought I had controlled everything...I thought I'd THOUGHT of everything...How is this happening-again? How-no matter how I use my powers-"

Elsa stopped and looked at her hands in disgust.

She hadn't felt this much revulsion or terror connected with her power in years. A thin layer of frost began to form on her fingertips, familiar and

terrifying to see. It was the only sign that she was trying everything she could to keep her emotions from bursting like a cracked dam.

The recent threats on the magical creatures. The attack on the trolls. The dragon crash. The evil aura of the shadows. It had already been too much, and now she was going to add a human casualty to that list.

"I have to get help," she strained out, looking at the dragon. She didn't know if she said that out loud as a consolation to the creature to try and heal her fragile guilt. It wasn't helping.

She was sure she was hyperventilating. Her breaths were rapid, short, and then ceased. All she could hear were the roars of the dragon and the storm above echoing against the icy walls. They incriminated her, accused her.

 **GUILTY!**

They translated.

 **MURDERER!**

They shrieked.

She struggled, balled up her frost covered fists and tried exhaling as best she could. She needed to tame the raging thoughts to make way for more productive courses of action. It was the only way she would remain sane.

She took a few steps to stand under the hole in the ceiling and shakily shot several giant bolts of her energy into the sky so that it exploded like fireworks. She had used this light show long ago, on a much happier day as a means to entertain and amaze her people.

Now, it was used as a distress call.

Anna and she had agreed upon this signal before she went up to retreat at the ice palace. Elsa had several guards stationed in sanctuaries a safe

distance away from the peak of the mountain where the storm would be at its worst. They were close enough, however, to act and come to her aid in durable sleighs if it was deemed an absolute emergency, which the signal would indicate. Elsa thought the current situation warranted those qualifications accurately.

She watched the bursts in the sky, secretly grateful for the opportunity to channel her energy. She took a step back, and was now lost for what to do next. The dragon was still raging, and she remembered her original plan of trying to contain it again so that it didn't hurt itself further. Sending the signal up into the sky didn't quell her worries. The guard regime that intended to come to her aid would not get to the mountain in time to effectively assist anyone who wasn't supernaturally gifted.

What was she supposed to do, just sit and wait for them to hopefully come across an injured person in the snow on the way up here?

Or would the rider be a frozen corpse by that time?

The thought made her body twitch again with fretful energy. No, she couldn't wait.

 _She_ had been the only one capable of thawing the "Eternal Winter" after she had ravaged her land with ice and snow years ago.

 _She_ had been the only one capable of saving her sister from the painful, frozen death she'd originally condemned her to.

 _She_ was a being strong enough to, somehow, destroy shadows of darkness that were making the legendary creatures in the lands surrounding her quake at their mere mention.

And she knew, right now-no matter how devastatingly uncertain she was, _she_ was the only person that could help this nameless rider in the time needed.

Elsa began to pace once more, trying to get her mind working.

"How would I cover the ground fast enough?" she murmured aloud, wringing at her hands with the habit of pulling down a phantom pair of gloves that were

no longer there to conceal her worries. "I-even I can't search a whole mountain by myself...they could be anywhere! Maybe...I should create some help?"

Biting her lip, the thought of simply creating more snow beings on a whim gave her added concern. The tiny snow-lings had been an unintentional

symptom of her summer cold. Olaf and Marshmallow had been when she hadn't known the full extent of her power and how it willed beings to life that were direct extensions of her emotions. She had vowed after, that in reverence to the beings she had already created, it wouldn't be right to just simply replace them with more frivolously.

Then again...these were no frivolous circumstances.

 _'I hope Marshmallow can forgive me for giving everyone a bit more company up here,'_ Elsa thought as she swallowed hard, praying that she was making the right choice in the end.

"What could help me hunt them down fast enough?" Elsa thought, exhaling shakily while closing her eyes and really trying to focus on what kind of "help" she actually needed. "I need something small and fast...something smart...something that can...hunt-Hunt! That's it!"

The elkhounds that the shadow demons had reminded her of in their attack methods-the ones her father had used to herd and track down his prey for hunting sport-they would do. At least their icy doppelgängers would.

Her wrists began moving as she closed her eyes and tried to sculpt the image of the canines that echoed in her childhood memories. Elk-hounds had a history of being breed in royal families for generations in the Northern monarchies from this region. She had loved her father's dogs as a girl, but after Anna's first accident and the flare of her powers, he had gotten rid of them.

Animals were too intuitive to magical and supernatural ability...they might have made people suspicious. The memory of this made an additional swell of despair hitch in Elsa's throat, as it was another reminder of lives ruined on her behalf.

The mixed emotions in her thoughts carried her arms in a rapid, fluid, dancer-like motion as her creativity formed six creatures that stood on four paws and had pure white coats sculpted from crystalline snow. Elk hounds were built more huskily than wolves, but their bodies and faces did resemble wolves aside from a signature curled and bushy tail.

Elsa held her breath as she opened her eyes to gaze at her new snow beings. They pawed the ground tentatively and gave tiny whines as they got used to the movement of their new found life, looking to Elsa expectantly. Elsa whistled as she remembered her father doing and made a gesture to beckon them closer to her, which they followed obediently. She let out a sigh of relief, as the creatures, seemed to be born with the same trained temperaments she recalled the real elkhounds from her childhood having.

She had a feeling from experience, that whatever emotion filled her mind the most while creating snow beings would give them the skill set or personality that reflected her own mental energy at the time. She was careful to focus on all the proper memories to form them, and she secretly hoped her current anxiousness would make the hounds work quickly.

The presence of the new snow beings did not seem to sit well with the agitated dragon, as Elsa realized it had been watching her warily from the corner of the room. It was backed into the farthest crevice it could, broken wings unfurled and spine arched like an offended cat. It warbled a low, threatening sound that indicated it did not find this added presence of her powers comforting.

Elsa was already a bundle of nerves, and the last thing she wanted was to have to deal with the injured creature attacking her again. She tried taking another step toward the dragon and extending a hand like last time, but once again it did little good. The dragon plastered itself further against the wall and the warble turned into a growl that truly frightened the Snow Queen. This spike in her emotions may have alerted something in her new snow beings, because the white hounds began barking immediately and charging towards the dragon.

"No!" Elsa begged her creatures, feeling everything spiral out of control because she still couldn't settle her skittishness. She watched helplessly as the dragon swiped a defensive paw at the hounds as they danced around it, barking, and potentially trying to corral it with little success.

 _ **"Roooaaarrr!"**_

Elsa recognized the new thundering roar as Marshmallow, coming through the hall and beating on one of the entrances she sealed with an ice wall to keep the dragon from escaping. She let him in quickly, worried he may be alerting her with trouble somewhere else in the castle. However, all he did was race over to the black creature that was the source of his mistress' worry, and bash it on the head with a mighty fist while it was being distracted by the snow hounds.

The dragon must have been weaker than it had been willing to admit to itself, because it let out a struggling sound before it swayed on its limbs and collapsed with a thud on the icy floor.

"Oh, Marshmallow, no!" Elsa said with a sob in her throat as she ran over to the un-moving dragon, hoping it was just knocked out.

To her relief, she saw a faint movement of rising and falling from its body, but she still took the opportunity to seal it in an ice dome to make sure it was properly contained. She then stood between the captured dragon and Marshmallow, who looked at her with frustrated confusion as he gazed behind her at the dome and then at the new snow being hounds that now awaited Elsa's next command.

"Marshmallow, I need you to help me watch things for just bit longer," Elsa soothed cautiously to her giant snow guard, "I will explain everything, I promise, but I need to leave for a moment with some new friends of ours."

She waited for a reaction, but Marshmallow still waited for more information silently, if only referring to the panting snow hounds with a look of irritated skepticism.

"The creature in here," Elsa said softly, resting her hand on the ice dome she'd built to shelter the wounded dragon, "Is a friend of mine. It helped me, and now it's hurt and scared. Will you please make sure it stays in here so it can rest? And please watch the rest of the castle, until I get back?"

She paused, expecting the snow man to throw a fit, but it seemed it was not in Marshmallow's nature to defy his mistress.

"Don't like it," he said simply, after letting out a low growl that translated into a sigh of defeat. "But I will watch."

Tears of relief welled in Elsa's eyes as she exhaled a breath she seemed to be holding in for ages.

"Thank you! Thank you, Marshmallow!"

Wasting no more time, leaving her trustworthy snow guard to babysit her new unconscious reptilian charge, Elsa ran to a nearby storage chamber down the

corridor. She brought out a lantern and violet, hooded cloak that she quickly put on over her standard ice dress as she made her way to the snow hounds standing dutifully together, awaiting direction.

She whistled again and willed them to come to her, and they followed obediently as she tore through the corridors to the exit of her castle and prepared to brave the relentless storm outside her safe haven.

* * *

 ** _"Hello? Helllooo! Is anyone out here! Do you need help?! Hello!?"_**

Elsa called into the thick blanket of white that swirled around her, straining her voice as she tried to be heard over the deafening winds.

She'd been searching the area surrounding her ice palace for what couldn't have been more than 15 minutes, but when it came to the conditions of a storm, every second counted. Horror stories that Kristoff frequently told about his time in the ice trade played swiftly through Elsa's mind.

"What did he say? Fits and death from the cold can occur within minutes-or was it hours-depending on how exposed you are to the elements," Elsa recalled to herself lowly, as every word she remembered increased her urgency and pushed her body faster. "You can be tossed over the mountain by winds blowing at a rapid enough speed when not properly anchored in the snow, and you can fall into formations of uncovered sharp rocks-Oh I have to hurry! I have to find them!"

At the time these cautionary tales were given, Elsa had merely dismissed them as inappropriate dinner conversation topics. It was now ironic how one person's life was dependent upon her ability to recall a very specific set of facts about the element she controlled.

All this wasn't even taking into account what a fall from the height the dragon had been at when it crashed through the icy palace ceiling could do to the person that had been thrown off. Elsa prayed that something like a soft bank of snow had at least broken the rider's fall, instead of a hard collision with ice or rock breaking their neck. With all the odds against this person, the Snow Queen of Arendelle was the only person capable of navigating this blizzard to reach them in time.

The help she called for still hadn't arrived, and fast is what she needed to be in order to the cover the large area of ground the person could be in.

Her mind drifted temporarily to her new search companions as she moved swiftly through the snow banks, her mind still buzzing from their creation that had only happened moments ago.

Suddenly, Elsa heard the snow hounds barking urgently and circling a spot of dark that stood out against the solid white landscape of the mountain.

She couldn't run fast enough, even after abandoning the delicate ice pumps on her feet, leaving them in the trail of powder building behind as she pushed the snow back with her powers. The shoes were functionally useless with her skin being impervious to the cold, and they were only slowing her down now. She bolted barefoot across the packed winter terrain as if she were simply running across a warm, sandy beach.

What finally made her freeze in place was the sight of the snow hounds making a wary circle around a waist deep indent in the powder. Some whimpered in concern between frantic barks as they were keen to keep their distance from their recent catch, and Elsa understood why.

A single black mass, bigger than any of the shadows she'd seen yet, twitched and oozed around the indent in the snow.

"I don't know how I missed you, but I'm getting sick of this!" Elsa shrieked, gathering a large quantity of her magic to furiously shoot at the creature, as she had learned to.

An icy blue glow flared through the white precipitation toward the shadow across from her.

When her attack just barely missed, the creature hurled itself toward her.

She shrieked again, finding herself unprepared for how vicious and focused it became. When it reached to grab her, its shadowy limbs gave her skin the horrible

burning sensation she'd heard the soldiers talk about.

Terror seized her every sense at the sensation. She needed to get away.

This shadow demon was different from the others, moving more freely and desperately as she had its undivided attention.

Elsa didn't want it to touch her again. She just wanted to get away from it. It was hard to hit and moved twice as fast as its smaller doppelgangers in the castle battle.

She fired several loose cannon rounds of her ice energy toward the creature as she stumbled backward gracelessly in the snow, too terrified to even cry out.

So this is how that dragon must have felt...

Thankfully, one of her attacks managed to hit the core of the large shadow demon when some of the snow hounds circled it in distraction. It's black undulating form seized and flailed before exploding into dissipating fragments of darkness.

The cry it gave out before hand was chilling. Elsa swore she heard the malice filled wails of a **_human woman_** carried just above the winds.

What...the hell was actually going on?

Just like the dragon crashing through the castle however, Elsa didn't have much time to sit and think for now. She had to act.

The whimpers of the snow hounds as they migrated back to the indent in the snow the shadow had been twitching over brought back all of her focus.

There was something else of color buried beneath, and she could only think of one _someone_ that could be.

"Hello! Can you hear me? I'm going to get you out! I promise!"

Elsa just kept rambling what she thought were words of comfort as she hurried and used a gust of icy wind to blast away the packed layers, unsure if she was even going to make contact with a real person. What if it was just another rock or tree? Dear God, what if it wasn't. What if-

That's when she saw them.

It was a very human-like figure was wrapped in a dark body of armor and furs that made it hard to distinguish a gender. Curled on their side in the snow, Elsa couldn't see the person's face. She could see, however, pink faded splashes of color around their form in the snow. Like blood.

Elsa sank to her knees in shock next to them, immediately searching for signs of life.

It was hard for her to see anything in the darkness and white with only the glow of her powers lighting her way thus far. The lantern she had attempted to bring had been snuffed out within the first minutes of the search. A shower of hail began to beat against them as the storm howled.

The Snow Queen wasn't sure if this had been instigated by her own anxiety or the fury of the mountain, but either way, there was little she could do to stop it when nature always rang supreme over her own magic.

Elsa instinctively created a small ice dome over her and the body in the snow. Glowing ice crystals stuck out on the inside walls so that she could at least see and shelter them from the storm as she continued her inspection.

"Please, please, please,please…" Elsa begged fervently, as she struggled to pry the person's body from the remainder of the snow on the ground and cradle their torso in her lamp. They wore a leather, studded warrior's mask made of the same material as the brown suit that still shielded their features.

"Please, please are you okay? Please, say something!"

Elsa gently shook the figure, but they didn't make a sound. They didn't move, not even a twitch. She was sure the doll-like motion and angle of their limbs indicated just what she feared, that they'd been broken like their dragon.

Body trembling with distress, she kept the person's head up as she pried the mask off to get a better look, hopefully to tell if they were still breathing.

A sob escaped her throat at the sight of _his_ face.

He was so young... a young man with boyish features despite the rough feel of faint stubble on his chin as Elsa found herself softly caressing his round cheeks and jawline. He had unruly auburn hair that was soaked from the snow. His pale face was covered in a mix of faded scars and new cuts with tiny rivulets of blood hardened on his face from the cold temperature.

He couldn't be out of his early twenties. He was so young, young like her and...she'd done this. Her powers had aggravated the storm, even after every precaution she'd tried to take, this was still her fault.

"Please, please don't die…" Elsa begged again, her head turned around blindly as if looking for help in the dome she'd made for them. She exhaled heavily, trying to clear her mind, trying to think of something...anything…

"Don't panic, Elsa…" she whispered to herself, trying to reel in her sense. "What do I do? What-What do I-breathing...heart beat...I have to check-I have to make sure…"

Elsa bent over awkwardly, still trying to cradle the young man, and put an ear to his chest to look for any signs of a heartbeat. It was a pathetic course of action, but she was at least relieved to start doing something.

He was so cold. Too cold. The ghostliness of his face under the dim blue glow of the ice crystals haunted her.

Elsa pushed more waves of emotion back to her mind, trying to keep herself under control. She couldn't panic, she just couldn't panic!

It was no use. Even after removing the furs he was covered in, the layers of armor were too thick on his chest for her to properly hear anything, and she wasn't sure exactly how to crack it open to check. She also couldn't expose him, not here, it would only drop his temperature further. What if he was already dead? He looked dead...it looked hopeless…

"Oh God, what did Kristoff say...in his stories...how do you tell? How do you tell!" Elsa murmured like a mad woman, unconsciously beginning a rocking motion with the boy in her arms. "There were miracles, you can survive-I just-I just-"

Elsa stopped for a moment when she noticed how her own breath began to form a thin layer of condensation on the glowing ice crystals from her remembered something...a trick Kristoff had mentioned!

Grasping at a thin layer of hope, she created a flat mirror-like shard of ice in her palm and held it just under the boy's nose and mouth.

Agony ticked by with every second and Elsa watched with hawk eyes, praying to catch something...even the tiniest breath.

A very unnoticeable and shallow wisp of warmth made a streak on the glass below his nose.

Elsa was crying tears of relief before she even knew it,exhaling another sob from her throat.

"Oh thank God," Elsa's broken voice rasped out, running the young stranger's cold matted hair off his face. "Life-he's alive! Barely...but now I just have to-"

The words of praise fell immediately off her lips as she caught sight of a thick white streak that run between her fingers on his scalp.

No...No. **No.** It was impossible.

"No, no, no, no, no-" Elsa verbalized as her trembling from fear increased.

No. It was just the snow. A trick of her anxiety. He was alive, that's all that mattered. She had to get him somewhere, somewhere warm until the help she signaled for could arrive.

"Where is warm-everything is cold," Elsa rambled as she clutched the young man tighter, more panic. "I'm not warm...I'm cold...I made everything cold...Why-why am I so useless! I-"

She stopped herself, she stopped the crying fit. She had to be strong, she had to be rationale now.

"Warm...I have blankets and supplies at the ice palace," Elsa recited, regaining herself as she began wrapping the stranger in the violet cloak she had worn for this exact purpose. "I-I just have to get him there. How…"

Elsa's thoughts drifted to Kristoff again, as it had been HIS idea to have emergency supplies in the ice palace for possible situations like these.

The image of Sven and the ice sleigh she got them inspired an obvious choice for transport back to the ice palace that would at least be bearable for her new unconscious acquaintance.

She felt like an idiot. She had even created snow hounds to track down the injured rider faster...how on earth had she not realized to use them to pull an ice sleigh that would have gotten her through the storm ten times faster. Even one second faster she could have been able to find him, one second now meant life or death.

Letting out a deep, concentrated breath, she used her powers to remove the dome shelter as she stepped away, only after making sure the rider was bundled as tightly as he could get. She conjured a long, flat sleigh made of ice underneath him and

commanded the snow hounds to assemble obediently in front of it as she added small ice reins and harnesses to accommodate them like a tiny team of carriage horses.

She climbed on the back of the sleigh, making sure both she and rider were secure by whatever means she could, and then called out to the snow hounds to begin traveling up the mountain.

"Go! Please!" she cried desperately as her creatures headed the call of her commands and her emotions. Somehow, the snow-made canines had the strength to carry them both.

Elsa utilized her powers to keep the snow clear from the path of her team and hail from pelting the area just above her injured passenger. Any sliver of energy not put into this, was used to keep the rider closer than necessary, her one free keeping him steady on the sleigh.

At the time, Elsa may have compared that touch to a lifeline, the only thing she thought was unrealistically saving them both from the tragedy of a terrible loss.

* * *

 **"What did you do?!"**

The demonic queen shrieked in her stone castle, doubled over from exhaustion in front of the ancient mirror. The last reserve of her current strength had been drained in that final manifestation. The dragon scale from the tracking ritual lay abandoned on the stone floor, it was useless.

 _"Are you troubled, my Queen?"_

The ominous voice in her mind mocked her as she stared with glittering hatred at the vision of the Snow Queen in front of her in the mirror's surface.

"You dare to play coy?" she spat, her glowing white eyes appearing significantly dimmed. "You worthless, insolent daemon! How dare you even _attempt_ to usurp me! Don't think I don't know your intent!"

Her voice was shrill, yet she was still weak. The only thing the shadowy queen could do was hurl a loose brick by her hand from the crumbling fortress walls toward the mirror. It shattered the glass, but that quiet,ominous chuckle once again filled every crevice of the room and her mind.

 _"Are you that concerned with your own vulnerability?"_

The queen's eyes narrowed, but there _was_ something to the accusation. The layer of black shadows that usually encased her feminine form, making her appear to be a walking silhouette, now receded. Using her shapeshifting abilities to disguise herself in a glamorous visage was out of the question as well, and it horrified her to sea wisps of her true mortal form

resurfacing before her eyes after almost a century.

"Silence! I had him! The ingredient was right there! If the snow wretch hadn't interfered-"

 _"Unless you've found a way to extract the soul from a lifeless corpse,"_ the voice interjected smoothly, amusement carrying in its tone. _"I believe you were doing a fine job of exterminating the sacrifice yourself. We must work on the control of your shadow extensions, my Queen."_

The livid woman hurled another brick at the already demolished mirror.

"You think I'm a fool? You made the shadows herd them closer to the wretch's fortress! You must have! Do you forget I am able to sense your every insubordination? I am your Master!"

Her flare in temper was using too much energy, and she sputtered more, unable to preserve her regality as she braced herself against the stone chamber floor.

 _"_ _You seem to forget,_ _ **my Queen**_ _, that you are merely the host for_ _ **MY**_ _power. And if you were to pause this unbecoming tantrum of yours for just a moment, you may be able to witness something most enlightening."_

A shadowy black mist manifested around the mirror, and the tinkling of glass shards shifting across the floor and reforming could be heard, though the queen refused to lift her head.

 _"_ _Patience has been your virtue thus far. Look now, and see how it may continue to reward you."_

Against her own will, the demon's host felt her head begin to rise and gaze at the perfectly reassembled reflection of the mirror and the new turn of events that continued to show within it.

The dark being taking up residence in her mind chuckled again, as she clenched her teeth in loathing.

 _"_ _There now, you see? What did I advise you? You may even be obliged to thank dear Elsa, since her power may just correct the consequence of your grave miscalculations."_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S LOG:**

 **November 22nd, 2016**

 _It twas the calm before the storm. I should not have spoken so soon, thinking I would have nothing but time to leisurely document my thoughts with a crew of few in the beginning of my journey._

 _The world has been a hurricane and I have been at sea long, but I have managed to pick up so many unexpected crew members from my last port it is astonishing. Where can I begin other than to list my newest crew members:_

 _ **Followers:**_ _27stix, An Amber Pen, Calli-co Cat, Chocotaco101, DragonDave45, Enchiladas, Golden Bearded Dragon, Httydlover467, KE12, Kilo8, Leo112, MaliciousPrimeMover, Mr Invisable, Patgone Wrong, RiverWing21287, TargaryenFire, The Outsider in the Void, Wyrmcraft, Xanderal, cgsmithmo,_

 _guadix20, haleda07, , jkess, jonathancourtney57, kcurrence11, le yo-na, orca3553, warorpeace_

 _ **Favorites:**_ _Bellimar, Chocotaco101, Coalsaga, DragonDave45, Enchiladas, Goldenbearded Dragon, Httydlover467, JP Gosick, Kbzog61, Kilo8, Kuma Dzurui, Leo112, MusicIsLife823, Omega-Saber, Patgonewrong, RingerWing21287, Secretsivekept, TargaryenFire, The , Wyrmcraft, cgsmithmo, , jonathancourtney57, le yo-na, nyanko1827, , warorpeace_

 _ **Reviewers:**_ _Laidyx, Kbzog61, KE12, le yo-na, Secretsivekept, An Amber Pen, Kuma Dzurui, cgsmithmo, The Outsider in the Void, Golden Bearded Dragon, DragonDave45_

 _ **A special note to Laidyx:**_ _I wasn't able to send you a message and I used Google translate as best as good to understand your review. I just wanted to thank you for being one of the second reviewers to give this story a chance! Your review kept me going and I hope you know much more action and Hiccelsa moments will come, so please don't let the suspense kill you entirely too soon! ;)_

 _I would also like to send a message of gratitude to my new mate,_ _ **KE12**_ _,who is captain of his own growing fleet of impeccable treasures I've mentioned before that include,_ _ **The Man from Berk**_ _. Many of you came to inspect my ship per his recommendation. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to sail out of your way to do just that! In kind, please inspect the latest addition to his fleet,_ _ **Repercussions**_ _. The summary is listed below:_

 **Repurcussions: This is a concept story I have for this universe, the idea is Elsa's 'eternal winter' forces Vikings to raid Europe's most northern nations, including Arendelle, for food after their crops are destroyed. In this story, I'm going for an ultra-realistic take on Vikings, so it's rated K for now but this might become a T later on.**

 _Also many thanks to_ _ **Lysistrate**_ _, who came aboard my ship once again to mentor me on my navigation tactics for this story! It's been a joy to have them on deck!_

 _I appreciate everyone who's gotten into the sea faring spirit for these story logs. I also appreciate those who haven't called for me to walk the plank for how long I've been gone._

 _And Aye, I do realize I've gone from eloquent Victorian diary lingo to straight up Captain Hook for these records. The long journey must have roughed me up._

 _Tis the life for me, perhaps?_

 _Once again, I am incredibly grateful to all who have reviewed, sent me messages and have just given this bizarre artifact of mine a chance._

 _Leave speculations, as per usual, in a bottle out to sea (or in the review section) after traversing this story is most appreciated. I will also, as per usual, respond entirely more quickly than I update chapters._

 _The siren song that inspired this chapter is, "The Lightning Strike" by Snow Patrol. If you have a fire or ice themed song that you think would fit fairly to be sung aboard this ship, leave it in the review and I'll add it to my list of inspirations._

 _Disclaimer: A force of phantom power compels me to state that I do not own any of the references to Frozen (Captain:Hans Christian Anderson, Disney) or How to Train Your Dragon (Captain:Cressida Cowell, Dreamworks). All character cameos that make it aboard this vessel belong to their respected creators, just as my original characters will remain under my command._

 _There is still plenty of room aboard. Who will join me?_

 _Till next we make port,_

 _Tasia'sEndlessDreams_


	4. Louder Than Thunder

_***At last port:**_ _While searching for the rider belonging to the injured dragon that crashed through her palace, Elsa stumbles upon a final shadow creature on the mountain side she must use her magic to defeat. She then discovers the unconscious form of a young man covered in armor, hidden in the snow, clinging to life because of the storm conditions and whatever altercation separated him from his dragon. Elsa creates a team of snow hounds to aid in the search, and they are used to transport him back to the ice palace in order to stabilize him before help can arrive. A strip of white discovered in the young man's hair brings Elsa back to memories and worries she forces away. Unknowingly, two figures of darkness watch the events from afar with anticipation._

* * *

 _ **Chapter Three: Louder Than Thunder**_

* * *

 _What would it take for things to be quiet?_

 _Quiet, like the snow_

 _I know this isn't much but_

 _I know I could, I could be better_

 _I don't think I deserve it_

 _Selflessness, find your way into my heart_

 _All stars could be brighter_

 _All hearts could be warmer_

 _ **-The Devil Wears Prada, "Louder Than Thunder"**_

* * *

Elsa cradled the armored boy in her arms, feeling all hope slipping away as she could hear the distressed wailing of his trapped dragon in the foyer down the corridor.

Yes, it had been confirmed, the creature belonged to him.

When Elsa was able to get him into the safe room in her palace with the supplies, she found a bandanna on his person with the same symbol as the red flag on the dragon's tail. She hadn't exactly stopped to put a full assessment together, but it was a simple enough connection. The sound of the dragon stirring frantically in the ice dome upon their arrival, probably sensing its master's presence, was also a telltale sign.

The trip back to the ice palace felt like a blur, with her one goal being to get him to the room with the fire pit she'd built and around every source of warmth she could offer.

That was supposed to be enough. She had tried to rationalize the sequence of events to herself on the way down in her mind; to keep her calm, to keep her optimistic.

He would be injured, but still not out long enough in the storm to die if she could properly help build his temperature. It would just be until help could arrive with more medical supplies and methods to bring him to the palace for proper treatment. She hadn't planned for this.

As she looked to the rider now, his symptoms had escalated well beyond what her simple rationale had concocted. She hadn't expected to deal with this horror again for the rest of her life. It's what she had isolated herself for the past 13 years trying to prevent.

The symptoms of a heart, struck by her own magic.

"I'm sorry," was all Elsa could whimper to the young man, trying to think of something. "I don't know how this happened…I never wanted to hurt anyone..."

The nameless rider in question was wrapped with every blanket Elsa could find stored in the palace, but that wouldn't stop the slowly progressing streaks of white running through his hair.

"You must have been hit by the blast I had sent towards the shadow demon on the mountain...when I was trying to find you, " Elsa said, unsure why she was talking to the young man like he was awake. Maybe it was a coping mechanism at this point?

She stoked the fire she had started in the pit with the supplies and instructions Kristoff had left for her several months ago. The night she first ran away and built her ice palace, intending to stay there with no way to provide for herself, had now become a teasing joke within her tiny family. Particularly from her royal ice master, who insisted that powers or not, it had been as idiotic for her to run off to the mountains unprepared as it had been for Anna to chase after her. He then insisted on helping her stalk the palace with an emergency store of items that would help guests of hers that _were_ bothered by the cold, should anything else in their lives take a dramatic turn for the worst up there.

Those supplies included the blankets she was utilizing right now, even if her attempts were currently futile. Oh Kristoff, bless that boy and his preparedness and his crazy ice stories. She had taken him for granted, she would need to rectify that when all this was over.

Over…

Would ' _over'_ mean when the nameless rider had succumbed to her deadly attack?

"This is the fault my magic, I'm so sorry, " Elsa said again quietly, bundling the unconscious dragon rider in a tourniquet like hold. "I didn't know you were there. I was just trying to destroy the creatures...I didn't see you in the snow...I know apologies don't make up for it, but please forgive me."

The symptoms of human affliction from a direct hit with her ice energy were undeniable. Even in the firelight, he was deathly pale and cold despite everything she'd done to help warm him. His hands and face felt like ice, and she suspected she'd hit him in the torso. That's where his body felt the coldest, even through all of his layers of armor.

That white color also wouldn't stop spreading. Like a disease, it tainted the rich auburn of the boy's hair to a ghostly snow color. Just like before, just like Anna.

"I have to assume the worst," Elsa recited, trying to sound official and in control. "I have to assume the blast was taken in the chest, close to the heart." Her voice quivered. "It took Anna about 12 hours to succumb to the full effect of my magic, but it's spreading fast on him. He was already hurt...and he's unconscious. Maybe his body isn't fighting the effects. If...I'm assuming the worst-I can assess the best way to-"

Her words died on her lips. To do what, exactly?

Elsa had been trying to keep herself in check. However, thoughts of the night when she'd struck Anna with magic, cursing her to freeze to death in that very palace, were bringing back potent emotions.

A single tear slipped down her cheek, and for a delirious moment, all she could see was Anna in the boy's face, frozen and dying again right before her eyes.

Even after healing her and breaking the eternal winter, Elsa had secretly never been able to get over what she had done to her sister.

There had been nights when Elsa would wake up from nightmares of her arms wrapped around Anna's frozen form on the harbor...slowing freezing her own body into an eternal embrace with her sister's. The gesture was to seek repentance for all of the years in life she had failed to give Anna the love she deserved. And there they would stay, frozen in time forever...never separated again...because that was the only thing she felt she could do.

Because she was dangerous and wretched and the boy here now was proof that everything she touched was destined to die...

"What am I doing!" Elsa shrieked to herself, hastily trying to remove the still streaking tears from her face. "I don't have time for this! I-I have to get him awake! I have to get him warm and awake to beat this! What happened last time...the trolls helped. Anna said she and Kristoff went to see the trolls and they...told her only-no, it can't just be an act of true love! There has to be another way! Maybe I DID get his head." She turned back to the young man again, pushing more of the snow white hair off his resting features. "I have to get him warm and awake-till we can get him to the trolls!"

Her body shook, whether from relief from a new possible plan or despair that she was just trying to delay the inevitable. There was also a shaking coming from the foyer, and Elsa assumed that now the dragon was awake, it couldn't be contained for long. The glowing devastation of its attacks echoed in her memory from the battle.

Then again...that may just have given her an idea.

"Marshmallow! Please come help me!" Elsa said, swiftly rising to her feet as she called her snow guard.

The giant snowman rushed in with his perpetual look of displeasure set over his features.

"It's getting out," Marshmallow said, and Elsa knew perfectly well he was referring to their reptilian house guest.

"That's all right. We're going to take it to its friend. Will you help me lift him, gently, and help me take him to the dragon, please?" Elsa indicated toward to the rider's form, feeling regretful that she wasn't strong enough to carry him herself.

Marshmallow did not look happy at being treated like a concierge for unconscious beings. Still, he lifted the young man up gently, even making sure at Elsa's behest to keep him neatly cocooned within all the blankets.

With a shaky rush of air out of her lungs, Elsa steeled her nerves and led the way back to the foyer. She was greeted by the sight of her protective ice dome in shambles and the dragon perched on a pile of ice rubble. It was doing nothing short of hissing at her snow hounds, who must have thought it their duty to corral the beast once more.

 _"It isn't shooting blasts at them, even when that could probably easily destroy them,"_ Elsa thought curiously as she entered. _"Why doesn't it treat my creations like it did the shadow creatures, even if it doesn't like them?"_

Elsa commanded the snow hounds to stand down as she approached the snarling and glowing dragon.

She walked in front of Marshmallow, who was cradling the unconscious stranger with almost paternal precision. The large snow guard still by no means looked happy, and the situation may have been comical if it wasn't entirely life threatening.

"Hey-Hey...it's okay," Elsa said slowly, making a point to show the dragon the glowing power in her hands disappearing altogether as a gesture of submission. She knew it didn't like her magic, and she was trying her hardest to dam up her fear to appear as less of a threat as possible.

It seemed to work well enough to get the dragon to look at her curiously though its growl. She stepped to the side again to make sure the rider was in its full view.

"We have your friend," she said softly, trying to make eye contact with the dragon, to hopefully make it understand like it did during the battle.

At the sight of the unconscious rider, the dragon instantly changed its tune.

The growling now turned to cooing that took on that forlorn tone Elsa first heard when it had been looking for its master. It pounced off its perch and then paced back and forth anxiously. Its sad looking eyes never left the bundle in Marshmallow's arms.

Elsa knew the creature was still dangerous, but she had a feeling that if it wanted to attack her, it would have blasted her into oblivion by now. Just like regular animals, she was beginning to see it was intelligent enough to instinctively detect a real threat. Taking a gamble for their safety, Elsa beckoned Marshmallow to take a few steps forward while keeping her eyes on the dragon.

"Set him down gently please, Marshmallow," Elsa said, as she pointed out a spot close enough to the dragon to place the blanket cocooned rider. The dragon immediately began sniffing and circling the rider in distress before curling itself around him in a protective, feline manner.

The dragon's tail swept around their forms and its wings shielded the young man from Elsa's view. It immediately pierced the blonde queen with knowing eyes while letting out a single accusatory roar.

 _"What did you do!"_

That's what Elsa suspected it to be saying, at least.

'It smells my magic on him, it knows,' Elsa thought with immense guilt.

Keeping eye contact with the dragon, she sank to her knees in front of the pair so that while she was still at a safe distance, she was eye level. With Marshmallow standing guard at her back, she felt certain she could move forward with her idea.

"He's cold," she tried to explain softly to the dragon, and the way it was looking at her with indignant intelligence, suddenly made her feel less idiotic for trying to carry a conversation with it. "He's cold and it's my fault."

 _"Clearly."_ The dragon's flat expression seemed to say as its eyes skewered her.

Elsa couldn't help letting out an embarrassed sigh in its presence before continuing.

"But, you can help," she said, trying to gesture toward the dragon wondering if it was smart enough to be aware of its own abilities. "Can you glow, like me? To make him warm?"

The dragon still gave her curious looks and wasn't giving her the response she wanted. She sighed again with frustration, trying to think about the battle against the creatures and how it had miraculously understood to attack as she did.

Maybe...she needed to lead by example.

"You're good at mimicking things? Aren't you?" she said, speaking to the dragon once more in a soothing tone.

It sniffed shortly at her, as if to ask how she could question its capabilities like a common house pet.

"Can you glow? Like me?" she asked it again, and then rose one hand that was illuminated with a blue, frosty ball of energy she was keeping contained.

The dragon reacted to this, winding around its master tighter and began its warbling growl at the threat of her presence. She remembered it glowing when the creatures directly threatened it..maybe she had to test it a little.

She moved forward across the floor slowly, which was a bit difficult to do on her knees in the close fitting ice dress. However, there was only Marshmallow and a dragon to witness, so she put elegant protocol out of her mind for the time being.

The closer she got to the dragon, the more threatened it seemed to get until she noticed its body beginning to glow with a blue light on its own accord. When Elsa could notice heat in the air where there was previously frigid cold, she froze in place, looking to the dragon to see if it could pick up her intent.

The dragon narrowed its eyes at her again, but then watched as she kept gesturing toward its rider and ceased trying to come towards it. It sniffed the air again and then started putting more attention on its rider, staying curled around him while maintaining a dimmed glow.

Elsa let a hopeful look escape as the dragon took the hint to use its glow to warm the rider. He was wrapped nicely enough in the blankets that it would help save him from any burns caused by the dragon's power, but would still allow him to benefit from the heat.

Not daring to move, her breath waited in her throat for any form of results. A small amount of steam rose around the boy and the dragon.

She waited a few seconds...a few more...and a few more...not even a stir.

Elsa's head sunk into her hands as another streak of white slowly concealed one of the last remaining bits of the rider's auburn hair color.

"It's no use," Elsa said to herself and the dragon, shaking as more tears escaped despite her struggle to keep them back. "Nothing is going to work. I don't want to hurt him more...but...it's like nothing is going to help except-" Her voice tapered off as she couldn't help wrapping her arms around herself.

Elsa felt like a child again. Like she was 16, curled up and trembling in her bedroom from dreams of inner demons she couldn't explain or admit to.

The loss of hope engulfing her lasted only for a few moments, before another roar from the dragon snapped her head to attention in its direction.

The mythical beast wouldn't break its stare, one that was angry, but also so incredibly determined it floored Elsa. It could smell her power in the air and sense her potential, and it seemed to understand that the only chance its master had was from the unfathomable abilities of the human before it.

 _"_ _Fix it."_

The dragon commanded her with its eyes as it roared again. She could barely argue with it, just feeling dwarfed and insignificant under its emerald gaze.

"I don't know how!" She yelled back to the dragon in confession, her voice breaking with every pathetic justification for her failures. "I've only done it once before...but it was only because Anna was there...because I was finally had people that believed in me...because-I thought it would never happen again!"

The dragon then gave a sad coo in response, and its eyes held more sorrow than she had ever seen displayed by any human in her lifetime.

"Please."

It pleaded with her to do something. Anything...as it knew she was the only one that could.

"I'll try..." She whispered, finally closing the distance between herself and the rider as the dragon exposed some room for her to approach.

When next to the rider again, Elsa exhaled and racked her brain for the memory of the day she had unfrozen Anna and her entire kingdom.

 ** _'_** ** _An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart!'_**

Olaf's words that day after the miraculous act rang through her head.

Love will thaw…

Love…

 _ **Love?**_

It had almost been too easy when she had been enraptured in the moment, surrounded by so much joy and realization. The energy just surged through her that day. It was so easy to be empowered by her sister's love...it was just instinctual.

"Maybe if I...do everything the same….it will help...something might happen…" she said to herself. "What had I been doing? I-I had just been holding Anna-"

Elsa glanced at the rider and blushed awkwardly, but realizing that was as good a place to start as any. With the leering supervision of the dragon, she propped him up and cradled him as she had on the mountain side. The more contact she had with him, the more effective the process was perhaps?

Could she just absorb the cold from him? It worked in other instances. If she could produce that kind of magical energy, surely she could intake it. However, raw magic and ice were different from people.

People were too fragile, too easily broken by the simplest things gone wrong...

She closed her eyes and focused, trying to recall every detail...every feeling, every nuance of that day.

"She was frozen and gone," Elsa found herself reminiscing to the young man aloud, trying to tap into her very being. "...and for the first time in years...I just held her...because nothing else mattered. I let go of everything...because there was no use fighting anything anymore. All too late...I could give her back all the love she had tried to give me our entire lives. I don't know what happened...I must have released something, because just as quickly as I'd lost her...I had her back again. And then before I could really understand what I was doing...the whole kingdom had been released. That's all I remember...just feeling...and a warming aura of love...why?" Elsa couldn't stop herself from angrily pounding a balled up fist against the icy floor in frustration. "Of all the emotions, why does it have to be _**love!**_ "

Focusing as her body hummed with repressed energy, she placed a hand on his chest, hoping something would be released like last time. She fought to steady her powers so they wouldn't aggravate his condition to the point of no return.

"I don't know how to love anyone else besides Anna," she confessed more as she looked at him with heaviness in her heart, trying to channel...anything…"How? How am I supposed to love a man I just met?"

The irony of this situation haunted her.

"Anna could have done it," she said bitterly, more tears burning in her eyes. "If she was here, she could save you. She can love anyone. She can believe in anything...why can't I? Why is it so hard? How am I supposed to...love someone...when I don't even know their name?"

No response came from the stranger in her arms. Not even a breath this time. She noticed a small trail of frost that was now working its way up his neck.

"No-No please!" Elsa cried as the dam finally burst. Every resolve and fear crumbled away as she clung to the young man in desperation, trying to stop the final freezing process.

She grasped for one of his hands. It was hard and frozen like an ice sculpture.

Just like Anna...just like Anna...

"Please don't die! Please! Not again!" Elsa begged brokenly as the dragon caught onto the tragedy and now paced around them roaring with panic. "Oh please, don't make me cause any more death! I'm sorry, I'm sorry-What do I do? Oh, Anna what do I do?"

She held the rider in a vice grip now, all delicate precision forsaken as she could feel the ice taking over the rest of his body. Her head buried itself in his shoulder as she sobbed and refused to open her eyes.

She _**wouldn't**_ let go!

She _**couldn't**_ let go!

If she just kept holding on something had to happen! It **_had_** to! Especially when somewhere in the world, somebody loved this boy.

His dragon clearly loved him. Why didn't it work? Why hadn't the embrace of the dragon been enough? He could have family, friends, a father...a mother...a special someone?

Why now was the one person responsible for his life ...a monster. A monster cracked and cold like the ice she controlled, who could not love.

"I don't even know your name!" Elsa wailed, her pleas to the rider wrapped around unintelligible cries that violently shook her form. "Please! You can't let me take your life... when I don't even know your name!"

She didn't stop the rivulets running from her eyes, till she was sure she had no more tears left. She didn't stop praying that some miracle of instinct could save the young man she had cradled in her arms.

The only thing that rewarded her, was the feeling of his form weighing her down. Her eyes opened just in time to see the ice encasing the rest of his features.

All the world was frozen in silence.

Her cries trapped immediately in her lungs. Even the storm bludgeoning the palace outside seemed to audibly pause.

Elsa's eyes widened in horror.

Once again, all she could see was her sister's previous dead-eyed stare echoing in her mind's vision as she now embraced a frozen statue. The only difference between the memory of Anna and the young man now, was that his face was resting in an eternally sleeping expression.

 _No...No..._

 _Not Anna..._

 _Not anyone else..._

 _ **Not ever again...**_

Reliving the memories of her anguish and adoration for her sister that day...mourning the loss of someone she could never apologize to...aching with a soul that valued human life and lamented the thought of extinguishing it...Elsa let go of everything.

Now that it was too late, now that nothing else mattered.

The dragon circled them both, refusing to leave its master's side as it mourned in its own way. Elsa couldn't even look it in the eyes.

"Please, forgive me..." Elsa let out in a hoarse whisper, unable to let out any more cries or shed any more tears.

Her body slumped forward, overwhelmed from the distress it had endured without respite. Her head rested on the rider's ice cold chest. No sound could be detected within it.

She had no will to move. No will to do anything except drown in the silence around quiet was only broken by the keening calls of the dragon and the whimpering of her snow hounds as they sensed her despair.

 _ ***BOOM***_

A sound, louder than thunder in that somber space, pierced suddenly through the aura of death. Elsa then felt as if something unseen had pierced through her chest.

Once again, everything was happening too fast for her to even register as she was writhing in pain. A sensation of warmth emanated around her like the rising glow of embers being stoked alive.

The sound...it was a beat...a **heart beat.**..

And then another...and then another...

 **...Coming from...the rider!**

"He's-he's-" Elsa stammered out in surprise between gritted teeth as she realized that the warmth was coming from him as well. "He's okay? I-I-"

Elsa winced again and doubled over, trying to sit up to get a better look at the situation. The dragon shifted excitedly while nudging the rider with its muzzle.

Elsa prayed that she wasn't hallucinating as she witnessed the surreal sight of the ice melting from his form and color creeping back into his features.

As the dragon prodded the young man and licked him with curious concern, a strangled sound could be heard forming out of his throat.

 _ **"Nn...B-Bud...?"**_

Elsa couldn't stop another sob from escaping as he slowly opened his eyes.

They were green...just like his dragon's.

Elsa was close enough to see them try and scan for the source of the sounds around him before slowly closing as he faded out of consciousness once more.

The young man's body barely moved as the dragon chattered with enthusiastic roars and rubbed him like an affectionate cat. He sounded hoarse and in so much pain while uttering even those few syllables, but he was alive.

"Thank goodness," Elsa wept in relief, her own words barely audible as she rambled in exhausted euphoria. "Thank goodness-oh, thank you! Thank you!"

Witnessing the reunion of the dragon and its master tugged at the core of Elsa's heart. The bond between this man and beast was something unprecedented and unique, something deep she couldn't even begin to fathom.

Oddly, there was also a literal pulling sensation. It came from her chest again, causing more painful waves of feeling she couldn't identify. She could only describe it as being tethered to an invisible force that pulled her being in multiple directions without knowing.

There was suddenly a call of voices in the distance that echoed within the frozen palace corridors.

 **"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE? THE TOP OF THE TOWER IS IN SHAMBLES!"**

 **"YOUR MAJESTY? YOUR MAJESTY! IS SHE INJURED?"**

" **ELSA! CAN YOU ANSWER US? CHECK ALL OF THE CHAMBERS! WE'VE GOT TO FIND HER!"**

It was her mountainside guard regime...and Kristoff! She didn't know he had accompanied them. She could hear his voice ringing and she staggered upward drunkenly, making sure to remove the ice that could be blocking any remaining entrances from where they were all located.

 _ **"Marshmallow!"**_

She called out to her snow guard with a broken voice as she could barely keep her balance.

"Marshmallow-Please!" Elsa gasped, becoming more disoriented with each syllable she tried to command. "Please tell them! They need to help him-tell them please don't hurt the-dragon-please tell them to get him help as-as-"

A wave of fatigue that had been building from the moment the dragon crashed in her palace, finally overcame the snow queen.

She was mentally and physically unable to fight as the remaining strength in her body buckled. She could only manage to lay limply along the palace floor next to the unconscious man she had almost condemned.

 _"Why am I so weak?'"_ Elsa could only think as the remainder of her vision blurred. " _Never...has using my powers been this tiring...why am I suddenly..."_

Her thoughts wandered and went back to the young man, who hadn't moved much outside of the single response to his reptile companion. That invisible force...that imaginary tether...it seemed to pull her...right towards him...

The last thing she could even register was the burning green irises of the dragon piercing her soul from its master's side. The last motion she was capable of was reaching a limp hand as far as she could manage toward the rider while thinking:

 ** _"Please...please be okay...I need to know your name..."_**

And then blackness came for her.

* * *

Back in the decrepit fortress, the malevolent queen watched the resurrection of the young dragon rider with glowing, hatred filled eyes in the reflection of the looking glass.

"What power is this?" she questioned in a grave tone.

 _ **"Why, that would be an act of true love, my Queen. Certainly, you should be able to recognize one by now."**_

"You know that's **not** what I'm referring to," the queen snapped to the demon that mocked her from within the recesses of her mind.

The demon merely chuckled at her.

 _ **"That, my majestic one, is the affect of dear Elsa's unique abilities. How convenient that she was able to use them before his last breath left his body. Sadly, their misuse will bring about its own unfortunate set of consequences."**_

"Consequences from which you will benefit," the queen hissed, saying every word through teeth.

 _ **"We both benefit by ensuring that the sacrifice is well protected until the next time you are able to retrieve it. On Elsa's behalf no less."**_

"Stop saying her name!" The demoness howled. "That miserable waif is _**nothing**_! Not a Queen! Not a sorceress! And she is _**none**_ of your concern! **_I_** am the _**ONLY**_ source of your power! I am **_everything_** , and you will remember that!"

More of the dark energy around her flared upward, though it was a wasted reflex of power that left her weaker in her current state.

 _ **"Careful, my Queen, your girlish envy may cost you more than it's worth."**_

The demon laughed again at its desperate host, finding her torment all too amusing and ironic.

 _ **"May I help remind you of a lesson on the universe that the rest of your species will not be capable of grasping until many years from now? Humans are such trifling beings. Thinking that complicating the comprehension of forces beyond their control, will help to harness them. The forces at work, what is referred to as 'magic,' can not be tricked into manipulation."**_

The image of the Snow Queen and the dragon rider rippled within the mirror, carefully focusing on the image of the unconscious blonde reaching out to connect with the life she had barely managed to preserve.

 _ **"A simplified understanding they will come to, one that you have already learned and Elsa will soon enough, is that every action will come with its reaction. And 'magic'...it ALWAYS comes with its price."**_

* * *

 _ **Author's Log:**_

 _ **April 19th, 2017**_

 _The calm before of the storm is nothing to fear in comparison to the eye. It lulls one into a false sense of shelter,_ _until the waves come careening a top you during your most restful sleep._ _Is the beginning of the journey always the hardest?_

 _Almost losing the ship, my newly acquired deck hands and mates put in extraordinary amounts of work to ease my worries. To keep us afloat. I can only thank them now for their messages and reviews, as is proper:_

 _ **Reviews:**_ _Kbzog61_ _,_ _An Amber Pen_ _,_ _Golden Bearded Dragon_ _,_ _William563_ _,_ _cgsmithmo_ _,_ _KE12_ _,_ _Kuma Dzurui,_ _Secretsivekept_ _,_ _Laidyx_

 _ **A special note to**_ _Laidyx_ _ **:**_ _Once again, thank you so much for your reviews. Once again, please excuse any attempts I have incorrectly made at translating. Perhaps I shall need some lessons? A bilingual Captain, even on my floundering ship, is certainly more beneficial to all. The intrigue is only beginning. Your reporting is much appreciated and warranted, and no worries, I'll keep you off the deck if you'd prefer for orders! ;)_

 _I was certain most of my crew would make me walk the plank for the long journey during our detour through "Procrastination's Pass" per the storm throwing us off course. Every day they do not threaten mutiny, I am grateful._

 _I also must acknowledge the hands we picked up our latest port. To date, there are now 36 intrigued crew members following our charts and 34 loyal sailors declaring this their favorite voyage. I would call that satisfactory for this stage in the journey._

 _ **New followers:**_ _Scarlet Saffron Silver_ _,_ _William563_ _,_ _Raeon5_ _,_ _Arthanos_ _,_ _luciander077_ _,_ _PumpkinSpoon_ _,_ _theother1andonly1_ _,_ _skadoosh123_

 _ **New favorites:**_ _Scarlet Saffron Silver_ _,_ _William563_ _,_ _Raeon5_ _,_ _Arthanos_ _,_ _luciander077_ _,_ _PumpkinSpoon_ _,_ _theother1andonly1_ _,_ _skadoosh123_ _, Snake1234_

 _ **A REQUEST TO THE CREW:**_ _If anyone is still reading the logs this far, I am asking a humble plea for assistance with two things:_

 _ **1\. I am in need of new siren muses! In your message in a bottle reviewing the turn in this journey, include your favorite song that you believe represents Hiccelsa or carries the theme of fire or ice.**_

 _ **2\. Spread the word to your mates! I would love more crew members, and if you see a soul at**_ _port_ _ **that you think would like this brand of supernatural, romantic, drama and madness, drag them aboard and let them see for themselves how we run things here!**_

 _The siren song to inspire this current chapter was "Louder than Thunder" by the devilish callers, The Devil Wears Prada. I was enraptured by this song before I knew it._

 _A closing note to my new mate_ _ **William563**_ _, thank you for enduring months of my fever driven ramblings at sea over the state of this journey. I am honored that someone with such a reputable fleet that has been such an inspiration to me, has been willing to join my crew!_

 _As per usual, leave your speculations (including muse requests) in a review or message in a bottle to me if choose! My best regards to everyone!_

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _A force of phantom power compels me to state that I do not own any of the references to Frozen (Captain:Hans Christian Anderson, Disney) or How to Train Your Dragon (Captain:Cressida Cowell, Dreamworks). All character cameos that make it aboard this vessel belong to their respected creators, just as my original characters will remain under my command._

 _Shall we try for a crew of 50 in the coming journey? Who else will join me?_

 _Till next we make port,_

 _Tasia'sENDLESSDreams_


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